


Love Is

by flxdaisy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, M/M, could be read as platonic, mark is in love, slightly self indulgent but who cares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 13:52:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19477231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flxdaisy/pseuds/flxdaisy
Summary: Mark always thought that love was supposed to be like the books- fireworks, butterflies, grand confessions.Maybe all love has to be is comfort, fondness, and an overwhelming feeling of right.





	Love Is

It’s a Friday night, and Mark finds himself where he almost always is: flopped onto the floor of Donghyuck’s bedroom, scrolling through instagram for the fifth time that evening. Maybe he’s not always in this exact position every Friday, but if Mark wasn’t at home with his roommate Jeno, or at work, he’s most likely wherever Donghyuck decides to be at that given moment. Jeno always jokes that the rent him and Mark pay every month is useless, as the both of them spend the majority of their time at the small cramped 3 bedroom on the other side of town. Mark hiding away in Donghyuck’s room, and Jeno likely watching a movie with Donghyuck’s roommates and friends, Jaemin and Renjun. Mark generally agrees with Jeno. It seems odd to pay four hundred dollars a month for a place you spend maybe twenty percent of your time in, Mark also really loves time to think. He’s been doing a lot more of that lately, so much that he’s worried Donghyuck will think he doesn’t want to spend as much time with him. If anything, Mark wants to spend the most amount of time with Donghyuck as possible, it’s just that lately it’s been so  _ confusing _ .

Donghyuck hangs himself upside down off the edge of his bed, brows furrowed, and turns to where Mark is sprawled. Donghyuck waits until Mark is looking at him to speak. It doesn’t take very long.

“Do you ever think that ants get jealous of how big we are?”

That’s Donghyuck for you. Mark used to spend a lot of time in awe at how the two of them became so close. From the outside, they seem like polar opposites. They sure did bash heads a lot before they realized that maybe they could stand each other, surprisingly more than they could stand a lot of other people. Now, Mark doesn’t worry too much about how they’re able to coexist so well. Nothing about the two of them could really be considered conventional in the first place anyway.

“No, but I think a lot about how stupid you are.” Mark rubs his arm to soothe the harsh pinch Donghyuck just delivered to it. Renjun says that if the two of them had a dollar for every time they’ve injured each other, they could have paid off his mom’s credit card debt three times over.

“You love me anyway.”

And that’s just the thing, Mark has been playing with the concept of love in his head for a while now, almost obsessing over it. The majority of his time back at his actual apartment is spent reading books about it, watching movies about it. Mark is certain he’s read every single Buzzfeed article on “The Top 10 Romances of all Time” and watched or read every single recommendation. Jeno is getting really tired of hearing Mark’s thoughts about it when he bursts through his bedroom door at 1 am (though Mark secretly thinks Jeno is having a love crisis of his own, but he doesn’t have the time for that right now). Normally, if Mark had something rattling in his brain, he’d tell Donghyuck about it, but this time, he’s been thinking a lot about love in relation to the two of them. When they first started getting close, Donghyuck’s roommates would joke about them being in love, that they’re waiting for the marriage. Usually, Mark would call them assholes and laugh it off, but lately love- and Donghyuck, have been so heavily on his mind.

Through his extensive self-research, Mark concludes that there is no way he has found love yet, at least not what everyone says love is supposed to be. Media goes on about this act of “falling” for someone. Falling head over heels for them and being turned into a bumbling mess in front the person of your affection. Mark is pretty much the same level of awkward around everyone. His friends get secondhand embarrassment any time they go anywhere with him, and he’s pretty sure he doesn’t have a crush on the weird middle aged cashier at the corner store, despite jumbling his words and dropping change when paying for his soda. The only person he  _ never _ had to worry about being awkward or embarrassing around is his best friend and certified fool Lee Donghyuck. Mark feels like he can do nearly anything around him.

If people think that Mark has no brain to mouth filter, they should know he  _ really _ doesn’t have one around Donghyuck, and he’s pretty sure Donghyuck doesn’t have one around him either. They’ll say whatever is on their mind, and everything one of them doesn’t say out loud, the other will understand from a mere look. Mark has never once worried about if what he’s doing is too weird if it’s just Donghyuck there with him. If he wants to stop in the middle of a story he’s telling to maneuver himself into his friends lap and wait for fingers to dance through his hair to continue talking, than he will. If Donghyuck leans his head on Mark’s shoulder, Mark will lean his head on top of Donghyuck’s with no hesitation. They spend so much time just with each other, they never really compare how they are with how other friends act. If they notice people giving them looks when they fix each other’s hair in public, or when they hold pinkies when walking down the street, they don’t mention it. This is just what they are. Donghyuck and him are past words, past second guessing. They are so  _ natural.  _

Like now, with Donghyuck smirking down at him, all Mark feels is a warm calm through his body. Something clicks inside Mark’s head, and instead of panicking like he thought he would, he smiles. Maybe the books and movies have love all wrong. Maybe love is feeling more safe and comfortable around someone than when you’re not. Maybe love is knowing that whatever the time of day, your presence is welcome. Maybe love is calling them stupid, and you getting a sore arm in return. Mark reaches up to tap Donghyuck lightly on the nose, and tuck a stray piece of hair behind the boy’s ear. Screw the books. Screw the movies. Mark has concluded that love is simply an overwhelming feeling of  _ right _ .

“Yeah. Yeah I really do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeehaw sometimes your brain just has to vomit out words and this is what my brain vomit looks like right now. I would love any and all kudos/comments! Thanks for reading!


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